ENGINEERING THE PERFECT LIFE

Let happiness and contentment find you

Dateline: 5 May 2019

Remember the outcry a few years ago, when Facebook deliberately filtered its newsfeed to see how specific stories influenced your mood and emotions? Nowadays people are choosing to opt-in to this type of modification. With more than enough bad news going around, like terror attacks, resource shortages or natural disasters, some consumers are desperate to optimize their experiences and their life in general.

Choosing to allow emotion measurement technology to track their facial expressions while browsing the internet, or walking along Main Street, consumers are helping businesses and helping themselves. With the iPhone 9 and Apple Watch, people can also choose to enable in-app audio monitoring.

If the software notices that you had a good conversation with Uber driver A12W, Uber will send the same, or a similar driver to you the next time. By pushing more personalized 'content', you are guaranteed to enjoy more of the humor, ads, products, movies - and people - that you like.

But what about privacy? "I don't worry too much; if it ensures that I get to waste less time on things that irritate me or don't add to my well-being, then I'm okay," says native New Yorker, Nate Andrews, aged 27.

"I don't have anything to hide - so what if I find videos about drunken escapades funny and enjoy jokes about income inequality? This way, I don't have to put in any effort to find more of what makes me happy. It comes to me."